Joe Biography - Artistopia Music

Joe Lewis Thomas (born July 5, 1973), usually credited simply as Joe, is a seven-time Grammy Award-nominated American R&B singer and record producer.

Biography

Early life and career

Joe's extensive background in gospel music has allowed him to produce his albums as well as sing on them


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. A native of Georgia, Joe later moved to Opelika, AL; since he was the son of two preachers, he spent much time in church singing, playing guitar, and even directing the choir. Influenced early on by gospel stars like The Winans, Commissioned, and Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Joe grew to love soul legends Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye plus contemporary stars Bobby Brown and Keith Sweat.

1990s

Joe graduated from high school and continued to sing and write music while working at occasional temporary jobs. Finally, he traveled to New Jersey, hoping to make connections in the music industry. While working at a gospel record store and continuing his music education through a local church, he met producer Vincent Herbert and recorded a three-song demo tape. He signed to Polygram/Mercury and in 1993 released his album debut, Everything. This album produced a minor hit for him and he was subsequently released from his contract. Joe also had a song called "All the things" that appeared on the soundtrack to Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood. This song was the only smash hit from the entire album. Joe then signed to Jive Records for his 1997 album, All That I Am. This proved to be his breakthrough album, reaching #13 on the. Billboard 200 album charts and number 4 on the R&B charts. The hit singles from this album included the Top 5 R&B/Top 20 pop hit "All the Things Your Man Won't Do", the Top 5 R&B/Top 40 pop hit "Don't Wanna Be a Player", produced by Rodney Jerkins, and "The Love Scene". "Don't Wanna Be a Player", produced by Rodney Jerkins, was also featured on the Booty Call soundtrack, helping its success. All That I Am eventually went platinum in the US.
Joe appeared on the track "Thank God I Found You" with Mariah Carey which appeared on her Rainbow album. This song was released as the second single and came a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. This track also became a hit internationally, helping to raise Joe's profile in other parts of the world.

2000s

Joe released his third album, My Name Is Joe, in 2000, which became his most successful album, reaching the top of the R&B album charts and #2 on the Billboard 200, eventually selling more than three million copies.
The Better Days album was released in 2001, reaching #32 on the Billboard 200 and #4 on the R&B chart. It featured two singles, "Lets Stay Home Tonight", which reached #18 on the US R&B chart, and "What If A Woman".

In 2002, Joe did another collaboration with Mariah Carey, which Joe join the vocals from Kelly Price and Mariah Carey which is the remix of the first single "Through the Rain" from Carey's album Charmbracelet. He also recorded a track called God's Work which was not released but appeared on a sampler on Jive Records

Joe recruited high profile guests for the And Then ... album released in late 2003. R. Kelly wrote the track "More and More", which was supposed to be on his Loveland album. G-Unit features on "Ride Wit U". The singles from the And Then ... album included the Top 20 R&B hit "More and More", "Ride Wit U", and "Priceless". A Double A-sided single "More and More" and "Ride Wit U" made the Australian top 40 in July 2004, as well as #12 in the UK Singles Chart. And Then ... reached #26 on the US album charts and #4 on the R&B charts.

Joe's new album, ''Ain't Nothin' Like Me'', is produced by Tim & Bob, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, The Underdogs, Cool & Dre, Timbaland, Bryan Michael Cox, The Smith Brothers (aka the BEATSMITHz), and Sean Garrett. The album will feature guest appearances by Nas, Fabolous, Chamillionaire, Papoose, Young Buck and Tony Yayo. The album was released on 24 April 2007 according to Joe's official website. The first single will be "Where You At", written by Sean Garrett and produced by Chrisclusive featuring rapper Papoose. The video for the single has already been shot by music video director Billie Woodruff. The video for "If I Was Your Man", Joe's second single, has been shot and premiered across the Internet and television.

And as of 2007, he will be on the new season of Making the Band (4) which he is going to be a current judge.

Pepsi Smash exclusive

Joe performed a cover version of "Before He Cheats", a Carrie Underwood hit, as a Pepsi Smash exclusive on Yahoo! Music. He changed the lyrics to fit a male's perspective and titled his version "Before I Cheat".

Sabotage and Departure From Jive Records

POV After recording for 11 years on Jive Records, Joe discovered a pattern of stalled promotions and adjusted radio play all linking to one man, R.Kelly.
In a surprising interview with EURweb’s Lee Bailey this week, the R&B star talked about his shocking discovery after leaving Jive Records earlier this year, which is also home to R.Kelly. Calling the singer/songwriter out as the man behind stalled records and promotion, Joe says “R. Kelly was very instrumental in making a lot of decisions when it came to my records being played on the radio, He would make a call to the radio station or to the label and say, 'Hey, this Joe record is too hot right now. Ya’ll need to pull that back.' And they would oblige.”

Joe is not the first R&B crooner to address R. Kelly, Ne-Yo who was booted from R. Kelly’s tour last year, sued the ‘Pied Piper’ in January as a result of a highly publicized “feud” that R. Kelly allegedly had with the singer. Kelly was reported to have had a problem with the attention Ne-Yo was receiving as an opening act and promptly removed him from the tour shortly after it started.

Since his 1997 Sophmore “All That I Am,” Joe and R. Kelly have released albums and singles under Jive around the same time including 2003's “And Then” and “Chocolate Factory” respectively. Ironically, R.Kelly produced Joe’s hit single “More & More” which reached #15 on the R&B charts that year followed by the G-Unit collaboration “Ride Wit You.”

Despite their work together in 2003, Joe says R. Kelly put pressure on Jive executives and radio stations to pull back on promoting his records when the singles appeared to be getting too much attention. “He did try to make some decisions when it came down to my records being on fire, and climbing up the charts and on the radio stations” says Joe.

Now that Joe has a new home with Kedar Entertainment/Universal, where he will release two new albums, he says “It's incredible that now I get the opportunity to, I don't know, maybe pay . Kelly back in some sort of side bar kind of thing." He does stress however, that he did not know what was truly going on until after he left Jive six months ago.

Joe’s highly anticipated album “Joe Thomas, New Man”, the follow up to his 2007 effort “Ain't Nothin' Like Me”, was released September 23rd. Another album, titled Signature, is due out June 2009.

Awards and nominations

BET Awards

2001, Best R&B Male Artist (Nominated)

Grammy Awards

2002, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: "Let's Stay Home Tonight" (Nominated)
2002, Best R&B Album: Better Days (Nominated)
2002, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group: "More Than a Woman" w/ Angie Stone (Nominated)
2000, Best Pop Collaboration w/ Vocals: "Thank God I Found You" w/ 98 Degrees & Mariah Carey (Nominated)
2000, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: "I Wanna Know" (Nominated)
2000, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group: "Coming Home" w/ Brian McKnight & BeBe Winans (Nominated)
2000, Best R&B Album: My Name Is Joe (Nominated)

Image Awards

2001, Outstanding Music Album: My Name Is Joe (Nominated)

Soul Train Awards

1999, Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video: "Still Not a Player" w/ Big Pun (Nominated)

Discography

Albums

1993: Everything #105 US
1997: All That I Am #13 US (Platinum)www.riaa.com
2000: My Name Is Joe #2 US (3x Platinum)
2001: Better Days #32 US (Gold)
2003: And Then... #26 US (Gold)
2007: ''Ain't Nothin' Like Me #2 US (U.S. Sales: 348,000 copies sold; Worldwide: 374,100
2008: Joe Thomas, New Man #8 US (U.S. Sales: 125,150)
2008: Greatest Hits #125 US
2009: Signature
2010: Heart-breaker: Agusta Wind

Industry Music Artists

Joe